A rough, tough laptop with serious attitude, but its keyboard proves an Achilles heel.

With only Dell's disappointing Inspiron Mini 12 so far released, Samsung doesn't have a great deal of competition at this size. The NC20 has six-hour battery life, fine performance and a superb display

MSI’s Wind Top AE1900 takes on the touchscreen nettop competition, but singularly fails to excite.

It's not widely available, but with this battery life on offer the BenQ Joybook Lite U101 should be

Ableton’s flair for innovation shows no sign of diminishing. This is the best version of Live yet.

So, the last big name has fallen. HP gave out in April 2008, and both Dell and Toshiba's resistance crumbled by the autumn. But it's taken Sony until the middle of 2009 to produce what it confesses to be a netbook, the VAIO Mini W Series.

A stunning piece of design matched with excellent battery life, but with an Atom inside the price is surely too high

Not quite the consumer/business crossover it aims to be, but there’s a lot to like in this clever mix of old-style business laptop and feature-packed modern machine

It may be lovely, but Sony’s under-powered P-series costs too much and features features poor battery life.

If backing up data is your thing, then it's worth considering the Thecus N5500 for your networking needs. The sturdy 5-bay NAS incorporates dual DOM support and easy-to-use data software.

Neither cheap nor beautiful, MSI’s Atom powered nettop is sadly second among equals.

A new behavioural analysis module only adds to AVG’s capabilities, although it isn’t the most elegant marriage

An attractive design, but several core flaws keep the Mini 10 far from the top of the netbook pile.

Looks, features, value: this is the first nettop we’ve seen to genuinely appeal in all the key areas

Well priced, with a robust chassis and touchscreen option that make it a good choice for classroom use, and any one else wanting a netbook that's a little bit different

Long-lasting battery, enough power to go, and a lightweight design: this has it all in a small package